Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie Playdate

COUSIN HODIE PLAYDATE is an extension of DONKEY HODIE, the whimsical puppetry TV series for preschoolers on PBS. This interactive game invites children on a playdate with Donkey Hodie and her younger cousin as they play a Plinko-style game.

The game promotes early empathy skills and is designed for neurodiverse children first. It focuses on recognizing the real emotions that might arise when two children play together and demonstrates different situations and body language involved in those emotions.

Our development process was centered on neurodiverse children by working with a user experience researcher who works with autistic children and is neurodiverse herself. We also playtested with, had conversations with, and observed neurodiverse children in our demographic from initial planning to finalizing gameplay. We took great care to ensure the emotional reactions were true to life by modeling them after observations of real group play sessions with children.

Several accessibility and gameplay settings allow players and their parents/caregivers to customize the visuals, gameplay, and even the emotional reactions to suit their needs, abilities, and enjoyment. The game is also available in Spanish.

In its first three months, the game has had 3.5 million plays across web and mobile.